Ettrick man dies from burn injuries

For the second time in less than a month an area man has died as the result of a fire that got out of control.

Louis Salzwedel, 80, died last week Tuesday from injuries sustained from a fire on Monday. According to a press release by the Trempealeau County Sheriff’s Department, Salzwedel received severe burns while he was attempting to put out a grass fire. The release said that Salzwedel had been burning a pile of garbage before the grass caught fire.

Salzwedel was airlifted to a burn unit, but passed away the next day. 

The Ettrick Fire Department and first responders along with Tri-State Ambulance Service and Gundersen Air Ambulance assisted on the fire.

Salzwedel’s death came less than a month after an 86-year-old Whitehall man — whose name was never released by the sheriff’s department — died after his clothes caught fire while he was burning brush on March 28.

Shortly after the first death, most fire departments in the county announced they would be following the burn ban initiated March 26 by the Department of Natural Resources, designed to help keep fire department and emergency workers safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.